The material presented is intended to be general and written in layman’s language as much as it is possible. The author shall not be liable for any direct or consequential loss arising from any use of material written. Please seek professional advice from your financial advisor or financial institutions on material written covering financial matters.

I was brought up to be honest and to be truthful since young. This is an important virtue. Later in life, I read Accountancy in the university. I was again exposed to the Code of Ethics of the profession, key of which is to be honest in all professional and business relationships (ie integrity as a fundamental professional trait).

So when I read in the newspapers of cases, it saddened me to see some business owners failing in this front. Investors, customers, employees, and suppliers want to deal with a business whose owner is honest and can be trusted. It is no good to keep silent knowingly that silence can lead to misinformation. This kind of silence is not good ethical behaviour. All business transactions and dealings must be above board. If there is any conflict of interest, this should be spelt out clearly and let the receivers of this information judge for themselves. Silence is no defence that the business owner had been honest.

Dishonesty and evasion of tax has been around since I started work. Yet, it still happened even when the penalty for evasion of tax is a heavy one. One can only hope that business owners can use honesty as a mantra when in business. Only then would one be able to sleep soundly at night.

The trade negotiation between the US and China broke down over the weekend. In any kind of negotiations and for success of an agreement, both parties need to come to the table with goodwill. Both parties must walk away with a feeling that each has gained something out of the agreement.

This is made more critical when two nations negotiate. No one country should be made to look inferior in the eyes of her own citizens. Putting politics above all else in negotiations reduces a chance of amicable solution to an agreement.

I hope for common sense to prevail in the trade negotiations between two powerful nations in terms of the economy. When two elephants fight, the grass gets trampled. The rest of the world looks on with trepidations because we are all inter-connected in many ways.

Sisters’ Islands are situated south of Sentosa near to St. John’s Island. We set off this morning to the Big Sister’s Island also known as Pulau Subar Laut. Only the Big Sister’s Island is open to public. To reach this island, we took a ferry from Marina South Pier. Access to this pier is made convenient with the North-South MRT Line to Marina South Pier Station.

NParks organised this intertidal walk for free including free ferry ride to the island. It was a guided walk. The whole trip started from 7.30 am to 10.30 am. Ferry ride took about 30 minutes each way. We spent 2 hours on the shore. The guides and NParks personnel did well to help us enjoy the intertidal walk.

When I woke up at 4.50 am this morning, it was raining heavily with gusty wind. We thought this trip would be cancelled. But the weather cleared and it was sunny when we left the island.

This is my third intertidal walk. Sentosa intertidal walk, Changi Coast intertidal walk and the Sister’s Island intertidal walk were different. Each one was special in terms of the marine lives on the shores and the environments of these places. Sister’s Island required a ferry ride, whereas the other two need not have to. The ferry ride was like I was on an overseas holiday!

What did we see? Many types of corals; Diadema sea urchin; sea anemones; Clown anemonefish; many types of slugs; black sea cucumber; other marine lives.

For more information, visit NParks web-site. I would recommend a guided-walk to appreciate the trip.

The stock markets were driven by investors’ sentiments in times such as this. The on-going trade negotiations between the US and China is one factor driving the global stock markets. The markets were generally positive until 6 May when President Donald Trump suggested that trade negotiation was going too slowly.

The stock indices from the start of 2019 and 30 April 2019 were up for the major indices below. Shanghai Composite Index was up 23.8%.

Stock Indices

31-Dec-18

30-Apr-19

YTD Change

Shanghai Composite

2,493.90

3,086.40

23.8%

Nasdaq (USA)

6,635.28

8,095.39

22.0%

Hang Seng (HK)

25,845.70

29,699.11

14.9%

S&P 500 (USA)

2,506.85

2,945.83

17.5%

Dow Jones (USA)

23,327.46

26,592.91

14.0%

Nikkei 225 (Japan)

20,014.77

22,258.73

11.2%

STI (Singapore)

3,068.76

3,400.20

10.8%

Then came the bombshell that the trade negotiation seemed to hit a roadblock. During this week, the stock indices corrected downwards.

Stock Indices

30-Apr-19

8-May-19

Change

Shanghai Composite

3,086.40

2,893.76

-6.2%

Nasdaq (USA)

8,095.39

7,943.32

-1.9%

Hang Seng (HK)

29,699.11

29,003.20

-2.3%

S&P 500 (USA)

2,945.83

2,879.42

-2.3%

Dow Jones (USA)

26,592.91

25,967.33

-2.4%

Nikkei 225 (Japan)

22,258.73

21,602.59

-2.9%

STI (Singapore)

3,400.20

3,283.84

-3.4%

Shanghai Composite Index corrected 6.2% down between end of April to 8 May. This was significant adjustment. As for today 9 May 2019, the Shanghai Composite was 2,850.95 points. This brought the drop to negative 7.6%.

It now depends on the China trade negotiators and the US’ to come to an agreement this week. Otherwise, more red ink is in the pipeline. It now appears that month of May is going to be a frightening month for stock investors.

The material presented is intended to be general and written in layman’s language as much as it is possible. The author shall not be liable for any direct or consequential loss arising from any use of material written. Please seek professional advice from your financial advisor or financial institutions on material written covering financial matters.

On 6 May 12.08 AM, Donald J. Trump threatened to raise tariffs on China export to USA from 10% to 25% on Friday on US$200 billion goods and 25% on untaxed goods from China not already subjected to tariffs. The President felt that the trade negotiation with China is going too slowly.

Just one tweet by Trump after midnight and the stock markets slumped in the morning, Asian time.

The material presented is intended to be general and written in layman’s language as much as it is possible. The author shall not be liable for any direct or consequential loss arising from any use of material written. Please seek professional advice from your financial advisor or financial institutions on material written covering financial matters.